“Ode to Reconciliation”

This was proof that Totus wasn’t a icon, a graphic, or an NPC.

This mark is much more. It it’s an active participant, a sacrifice, a starting point.

It is the literal foundation here; of an idea that began with an approximately 3x5’ unstreched canvas, to which I attached magnets and hooks to easily hang up the wet painting to speed drying once finished.

After I laid it on two flat cardboard unbuilt boxes. I gessoed the surface one evening to allow overnight drying.

The next day I placed a Totus mark across the entire canvas , with the top half in white, then completed the motif’s bottom half in ivory black.

Then while it was still very wet, I pulled a three foot long straight edge tool down from the top right down to the bottom left. One motion, mostly wiping out the totus and blending it into whatever fluid dynamics determined. Immediately I set down the tool and started pushing up with a six inch wide blade towards the left from the bottom right perpendicular to the one wider wipe 5 or 6 times.

The result was the total destruction of Totus leaving behind the shadow of its former self, transformed. I then splashed and flung black, then white in strategic locations to balance and reconcile alternating sections.

Here are some close ups and of it hanging on my door until I roll and bring to have it stretched and gallery wrapped.

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Update: laid out for its framer.

And the Motherwell 12’ x 40’ opus (@ NGA) that my title pays homage to, “Reconciliation Elegy.” Photo credit: @CZ